Cal Poly Pomona acceptance rate and your odds of getting in
With an acceptance rate near 75%, Cal Poly Pomona is a moderately selective public university in California. Because it admits more applicants than it rejects, admission turns on the strength of your whole profile rather than any one number.
Use this page to see what Cal Poly Pomona weighs, where it ranks among California schools, and how a profile like yours is likely to land. Admitted students post a 75th-percentile SAT around 1300, a useful checkpoint for where your scores sit, though it is a reference range and not a cutoff.
2026?
Cal Poly Pomona admitted 33,737 of 45,775 first-year applicants for fall 2023, an acceptance rate of 75.2%.
Source: IPEDS admissions survey, fall 2023. Updated October 28, 2026.
What do students study at Cal Poly Pomona?
Bachelor's degrees awarded by field in 2023 (IPEDS completions). Each field has its own page with the school's numbers, the model's major adjustment, and peers offering it.
Will I get into Cal Poly Pomona?
Direct answers to what applicants ask about getting into Cal Poly Pomona, plus a free way to calculate your own odds.
What are my chances of getting into Cal Poly Pomona?
Cal Poly Pomona admits most qualified applicants (around 75%), but that overall rate is not your personal chance. Your real odds depend on how your GPA, course rigor, test scores, and activities compare to its admitted students. Run your profile through the free CollegeCalcAI calculator to get a personalized acceptance percentage for Cal Poly Pomona in about three minutes, with no account needed to start.
Is Cal Poly Pomona hard to get into?
Cal Poly Pomona is moderately selective: it admits more applicants than it rejects, with about a 75% acceptance rate. Meeting the academic basics gives most qualified applicants a realistic shot.
What GPA do you need to get into Cal Poly Pomona?
There is no hard GPA cutoff at Cal Poly Pomona, but admitted students often present roughly a 3.2 to 3.7 GPA. Cal Poly Pomona reads your GPA alongside the rigor of your courses, so a challenging schedule matters as much as the number itself.
What SAT score do you need for Cal Poly Pomona?
Cal Poly Pomona does not publish a required score, but the admitted-student 75th-percentile SAT is around 1300. A score at or above that range strengthens your application, while a lower score puts more weight on your rigor, activities, and essays. CollegeCalcAI shows how your exact score shifts your odds at Cal Poly Pomona.
Your chances at Cal Poly Pomona by GPA and SAT
Estimated chance of admission at Cal Poly Pomona for plain profiles, from the same model as the calculator. Unweighted GPA, 3 AP courses, Regular Decision, no legacy, athletic or first-generation hook. The last column is test-optional (no score sent).
What are my chances at Cal Poly Pomona with a 3.1 GPA and a 1240 SAT?
About 93% (Safety), by CollegeCalcAI's deterministic model, for an applicant with a 3.1 unweighted GPA and a 1240 SAT, the middle of Cal Poly Pomona's admitted range, applying Regular Decision without a hook. A 3.4 GPA with a 1300 SAT comes out near 98%. Courses, activities, essays and the application round move the number; the free calculator includes them.
Estimates, not guarantees. Get yours with your real courses and activities. Assistants and developers can fetch this table from the free API: /api/v1/colleges/cal-poly-pomona.
How to get into Cal Poly Pomona
Built from Cal Poly Pomona's admitted class and what it reports weighing. The typical-admit GPA and SAT are CollegeCalcAI's modeled figures, not published cutoffs.
Here is how to get into Cal Poly Pomona, built from what its admitted class actually looks like and what the school says it weighs.
CollegeCalcAI's modeled typical admit at Cal Poly Pomona carries about a 3.18 core GPA and a 1250 SAT, in the most rigorous schedule available. Meeting it puts you in the admitted range for most applicants.
Cal Poly Pomona rates rigor of secondary school record, academic GPA, and state residency highest in its own Common Data Set. Put your depth there: and a transcript whose rigor rises through junior year.
Most public universities read early applicants first without a binding commitment. Apply by Cal Poly Pomona's early or priority deadline (confirm dates at www.cpp.edu), and if you are out of state, know that residency changes both the bar and the price.
How many students apply to Cal Poly Pomona, and how many get in?
For the fall 2023 entering class, Cal Poly Pomona received 45,775 applications and admitted 33,737, an acceptance rate of 73.7%. 4,311 enrolled. Only about 13% of admitted students enrolled, so the school admits several students for every seat it expects to fill, which is why its acceptance rate reads higher than its selectivity feels. Cal Poly Pomona enrolls about 25,042 undergraduates in total, 44% of them women, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 25 to 1.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS 2023 admissions and enrollment.
What SAT and ACT scores do you need for Cal Poly Pomona?
Cal Poly Pomona reports that it neither requires nor recommends test scores, so admission turns on your transcript, rigor, and the rest of the file.
Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10.
What Cal Poly Pomona looks for
What Cal Poly Pomona weighs most heavily in its admissions review, informed by its reported Common Data Set.
In its review, Cal Poly Pomona leans most on rigor of secondary school record, academic GPA, and state residency. Solid grades in a challenging schedule do most of the work here, with the rest of the application providing context. These ratings come from Cal Poly Pomona's reported Common Data Set, so the full chart below reflects what the school itself says it values, not a generic guess.
SAT score positioning at Cal Poly Pomona
How common SAT scores sit relative to the admitted middle. This is context, not a probability. Your full profile determines the real estimate.
How much does Cal Poly Pomona cost after financial aid?
The full sticker price at Cal Poly Pomona (tuition, fees, housing, food, books) is about $23,955 a year. Tuition and fees are $7,780 for CA residents and $20,380 for out-of-state students, a $12,600 gap that makes residency the single biggest lever on cost. What families actually pay is different: the average net price after grants and scholarships is $11,531 a year, and it ranges from $7,851 for families earning under $30,000 to $20,716 for families earning over $110,000. 46% of undergraduates receive a federal Pell Grant.
Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10. Net price is what students receiving aid paid after grants, by family income.
What do Cal Poly Pomona graduates earn, and how many graduate?
Median earnings for Cal Poly Pomona students ten years after entry are $71,902 ($54,466 at the six-year mark). 68% of first-time, full-time students graduate within six years, and 87% return for a second year. Among graduates who borrowed, median federal debt at graduation is $16,000; 25% of undergraduates take federal loans.
Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10. Earnings cover students who received federal aid.
How Cal Poly Pomona compares in California
Cal Poly Pomona ranks #31 most selective of 61 schools in California in our database.
Among the 61 California schools we track, Cal Poly Pomona ranks #31 most selective by acceptance rate. Schools like California Institute of Technology (3%) and Stanford University (4%) sit nearby, which makes California a useful frame for calibrating a balanced list. As a public university, residency matters: in-state applicants generally see meaningfully better odds than the headline rate suggests.
Similar to Cal Poly Pomona
Schools with a similar selectivity profile, worth comparing as you build a balanced list.
Build around Cal Poly Pomona with peers at a comparable selectivity, such as Coastal Carolina University, Miami University (Ohio), and Oklahoma State University. Running the same profile against each one in the free calculator is the fastest way to see where you are a reach, a match, or a likely.
Frequently asked questions
What is Cal Poly Pomona's acceptance rate?
Cal Poly Pomona admitted 33,737 of 45,775 applicants for the fall 2023 entering class, an acceptance rate of 73.7% (U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS). 13% of admitted students enrolled.
Is Cal Poly Pomona test-optional?
Cal Poly Pomona reports that it neither requires nor recommends test scores.
How much does Cal Poly Pomona cost after financial aid?
The average net price at Cal Poly Pomona, what students receiving aid paid after grants and scholarships, is $11,531 a year against a sticker price of about $23,955. Families earning under $30,000 paid about $7,851 on average.
What do Cal Poly Pomona graduates earn?
Median earnings ten years after entering Cal Poly Pomona are $71,902 a year among students who received federal aid, and 68% of students graduate within six years (College Scorecard).
What does Cal Poly Pomona value most in applicants?
Based on its admissions profile, Cal Poly Pomona weighs rigor of secondary school record, academic GPA, and state residency most heavily. The full factor breakdown is on this page.
Does Cal Poly Pomona favor in-state applicants?
As a public university, Cal Poly Pomona generally admits in-state applicants at a higher rate than out-of-state applicants, so your home state affects your odds. CollegeCalcAI applies an in-state residency boost when you select your state.
How can I improve my chances at Cal Poly Pomona?
Focus on the highest-leverage parts of your application: course rigor and GPA trajectory first, then test scores, then a focused leadership or activity spike. CollegeCalcAI's Power-Ups quantify how much each change would move your odds at Cal Poly Pomona specifically.
How does residency affect admission to Cal Poly Pomona?
As a public university, Cal Poly Pomona typically admits in-state students at a higher rate, and tuition differs sharply by residency. Select your home state in the calculator to fold the in-state effect into your estimate.
What are the admission requirements for Cal Poly Pomona?
Cal Poly Pomona reviews GPA, course rigor, test scores (where submitted), activities, and essays. With a more accessible acceptance rate, meeting the academic basics gives most qualified applicants a realistic shot.
Acceptance rate, application counts, admitted test ranges, cost, and outcomes reflect publicly reported federal data (U.S. Department of Education: IPEDS 2023 and the College Scorecard) and each school's Common Data Set; figures are rounded and lag the current cycle by one to two years, so confirm deadlines and policies on the school's own site. The typical-admit GPA and SAT are CollegeCalcAI's modeled estimates. Estimates from CollegeCalcAI are a planning tool computed by a fixed, transparent model, not a guarantee of any admission decision.